


flotsam.

by secret_atermoiements



Category: LOONA (Korea Band)
Genre: How Do I Tag, I Don't Even Know, Metaphors, No Dialogue, Not Really Character Death, Other, Symbolism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-07
Updated: 2020-02-07
Packaged: 2021-02-27 23:13:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 941
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22603771
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/secret_atermoiements/pseuds/secret_atermoiements
Summary: "Listen for the crows."-Chaewon has seen them in the streets. Only for seconds at a time, hiding out in gardens or near train tracks - the significance the places hold, she isn't sure. Often, they write phrases on walls or benches. She's watched them do it maybe once or twice. Always the same message. "Listen for the crows."They seem quite at peace, not entirely existing but still in a physical form, unable to be touched or harmed or feel anything.They merely exist.Forgotten.-Or, if you've read this far, a scene where Eden is no longer paradise. (Not intended to be religious.)
Kudos: 9





	flotsam.

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this in a flurry of inspiration after looking at the artist Nicole Gordon's work. There's actually not any particular reason why, I just thought it would make a good story.

Outside every window in Eden, surrounding each house, a feeling of tension permeates the air. 

Everyone feels it - the knowledge that nothing will be the same from here on is more than enough to keep people awake. 

Perhaps a couple of the strangers in these houses have seen the changes firsthand. Others are afraid to. But one thing is for sure. 

Eden is never going to be the same. Ever. 

Lying in bed late at night, this is all Park Chaewon can think about. 

It's been a long day - maybe longer than normal. It shouldn't make a difference now that it's the end of the day, but Chaewon is exhausted. She's been lying here not moving or thinking for maybe fifteen minutes, listening to the rain pouring outside.   
In exactly one hour, it'll be the 15th of November. Her birthday.   
The day of reckoning. 

The day that might be the end of it all. 

It hasn't always been this way in Eden. Once, the streets were quiet and peaceful, not like they are now. Overpopulation is only a recent problem with a recent solution. Not so long ago, things were completely fine. But the overcrowded streets have become too big of a problem to ignore - especially in the last couple years, and of course someone had to do something about it. 

The original plan was to leave. But leaving Eden isn't as easy as it looks, even for Chaewon - or for Jiwoo, her best friend. The two have been trying to find ways out for years, ever since they met, and it's never worked. 

Some people question if there really is a way out at all, or if the creators even really know how. But whether they do or not, there's definitely no way of leaving. 

So the leaders of Eden resorted to the next possibility. They introduced Flotsam, a race of humans - or creatures - to Eden. 

Chaewon has been told about the Flotsam. They do no harm to anyone and take up no space - they're simply black and white, like they're not even there. Nobody pays them any mind. They're never older than eighteen - in fact, they're almost always exactly eighteen. The day they become adults is the day they stop aging completely. An eternal being. 

They've existed for years, but never in Eden - who would want that in a paradise, after all? 

But Eden isn't a paradise anymore. It's finally given in to the possibility of being less than a utopia. 

Which is why, now, people are finally starting to disappear, becoming members of the Flotsam, when they reach their eighteenth birthday. 

And now that it's that time for Chaewon, there's the possibility that she's going to disappear. Become nothing but Flotsam. There's a possibility of staying, too, but it's impossible to say whether she'll be lucky enough to. Or unlucky enough. Because at this point, nobody really knows if Eden is a blessing or a curse. 

On the one hand, leaving Jiwoo would hurt too much to imagine. The two have been friends for years and years, conquering Eden's challenges and rules together. But on the other hand, what does staying in Eden really do? Would being Flotsam really be so bad?

Chaewon has seen them in the streets. Only for seconds at a time, hiding out in gardens or near train tracks - the significance the places hold, she isn't sure. Often, they write phrases on walls or benches. She's watched them do it maybe once or twice. Always the same message. "Listen for the crows."  
They seem quite at peace, not entirely existing but still in a physical form, unable to be touched or harmed or feel anything.

They merely exist. 

Forgotten.

Would that really be so bad? 

Forty five minutes until a possible end. Not knowing if she's going to disappear is strange - almost surreal. When the clock strikes midnight, either everything will change or nothing will.   
Chaewon should have so many more questions to ask. There's so many things to wonder about this whole situation - but her mind is blank. Almost like her fate has already been decided, and she's stopped caring about thinking about it anymore. Her only real worry is Jiwoo, but in the end what will it matter? If she becomes Flotsam, she won't even care - and if she doesn't, there's no need to worry.

Thirty minutes. The time is flying by so much faster than normal, a contrast to how long the day seemed to take. Chaewon hasn't moved at all - it barely feels like she's breathed or blinked. Eden is completely still. 

Somehow, Chaewon has a feeling that Eden was never really a paradise. If fate is decided for everyone who lives here and the rules are so strictly enforced, can it be considered a haven? Or is that what makes a haven? 

If rules are what makes paradise, Chaewon isn't sure she wants it. Jiwoo has always shared the same view. Rules do not determine paradise. In the end, nothing makes a perfect world because there's always going to be something wrong.   
Chaewon isn't particularly sure how she ended up thinking about this or how it relates to Flotsam. Everything is related in Eden, maybe. 

Fifteen minutes. 

With the potential end approaching so quickly, Chaewon finds she's run out of things to think about. Perhaps it's better to just simply wait. 

Ten minutes. 

If she disappears, what will become of Jiwoo?

Five minutes. 

Everything is quiet. 

Two minutes. 

Sleep sounds really nice. 

One minute. 

The room is so dark. 

Thirty seconds. 

Twenty. 

Ten. 

Can she even blink anymore?

Five. 

Four. 

Three.

Two. 

One. 

In the distance, a crow caws.


End file.
